The municipal commissioner of Calcutta has written to the managing director of CESC requesting the electric supply company to create a mechanism so that it checks whether a building has an approved plan from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) before providing a new connection.
It mentions that the menace of illegal construction in the city is “worrisome”. The letter to Calcutta’s sole power supply provider comes less than a month after an illegal under-construction building collapsed in Garden Reach, killing 13 people.
KMC sources said the intent of the move is to make illegal buildings uninhabitable.
If a building does not have electricity, water and drainage connections, people would not want to stay there and demolition of the structure would be easier.
Once people start living in an illegal structure, the demolition becomes a challenge.
KMC officials also said they have come across multiple illegal buildings in the city with a legal power connection. People are living in these buildings and using all electrical appliances.
The KMC’s letter to CESC says a meeting chaired by mayor Firhad Hakim last week resolved that “there should be a check on new electric connection to any illegal buildings/houses/flats.”
Metro has read a copy of the letter.
The letter adds: “I request you to please consider devising a mechanism whereby before providing any new electric connection in KMC area, the sanction plan and legality of construction is checked.”
A senior CESC official confirmed the receipt of the letter. “We have received the letter and we will abide by the regulations and law,” said Avijit Ghosh, executive director (distribution), CESC.
Another CESC official said the company abides by the law of the land. “The government can make it a rule or enact a law that electricity connections can be given only if there is a letter of approval from the civic authorities.”
A single-judge bench of Calcutta High Court had earlier this month ordered immediate disconnection of water and electricity supply to the flats on the allegedly unauthorised floors of a building in the Howrah Municipal Corporation area.Since the collapse of the Garden Reach building on March 17, the KMC has been thinking about ways to curb illegal construction in the city.
The municipal commissioner has asked the assessment (property tax) department of the KMC to check whether a building has been constructed according to the approved building plan before assessing its tax dues.
The assessment department can send tax bills to an illegal building but has to alert the civic building department about the deviation from the approved plan so action can be taken against the owner or developer.
A number of KMC officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the civic body should also ask its water supply and drainage departments how illegal properties received water and drainage connections.
An architect who has designed many buildings in Calcutta and worked closely with developers said CESC provides power connection based on its inspection.
“In case of multi-storeyed buildings, the developergives sale deeds and calculates the power load. CESC does a physical inspection of the building before providingthe connection,” said thearchitect.